30. It is said
then in the Psalms, “I laid me down and slept, and rose up again,
because the Lord sustained me.”33643364Ps. iii. 5 Again, in another place,
“Because of the wretchedness of the needy and the groaning of the
poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord.”33653365Ps. xii. 5 And elsewhere, as we have said above,
“O Lord, thou hast brought my soul out of hell; Thou hast saved
me from them that go down into the pit.”33663366Ps. xxx. 3 And in another place, “Because
Thou hast turned and quickened me, and brought me out of the deep of
the earth again.”33673367Ps. lxxi. 10 In the 87th
Psalm He is most evidently spoken of: “He became as a man without
help, free among the dead.”33683368Ps. lxxxviii. 4,
5 It is
not said “a man,” but “as a man.” For in that
He descended into hell, He was “as a man:” but He was
“free among the dead,” because He could not be detained
by 555death.
And therefore in the one nature the power of human weakness, in the
other the power of divine majesty is exhibited. The Prophet Hosea also
speaks most manifestly of the third day in this wise, “After two
days He will heal us; but on the third day we shall rise and shall live
in His presence.”33693369Hosea vi. 2 This he says
in the person of those who, rising with Him on the third day, are
recalled from death to life. And they are the same persons who say,
“On the third day we shall rise again, and shall live in His
presence.” But Isaiah says plainly, “Who brought forth from
the earth the great Shepherd of the sheep.”33703370Heb. xiii. 20 Then, that the women were to see His
resurrection, while the Scribes and Pharisees and the people
disbelieved, this also Isaiah foretold in these words, “Ye women,
who come from beholding, come: for it is a people that hath no
understanding.”33713371Isa. xxvii.
11,
LXX. But as to the
women who are related to have gone to the sepulchre after the
resurrection, and to have sought Him without finding, as Mary
Magdalene, who is related to have come to the sepulchre before it was
light, and not finding Him, to have said, weeping, to the angels who
were there, “They have taken away the Lord, and I know not where
they have laid Him”33723372John xx. 13—even
this is foretold in the Canticles: “On my bed I sought Him Whom
my soul loveth; I sought Him in the night, and found Him not.”33733373Cant. iii. 1 Of those also who found Him, and
held Him by the feet, it is foretold, in the same book, “I will
hold Him Whom my soul loveth, and will not let Him go.”33743374Cant. iii. 4 Take these passages, a few of many;
for being intent on brevity we cannot heap together more.